Deep down Alessandro knows Michael is right about feeling sorry for himself, but screw him, what does he know. He’s never felt this loss before.
“What the hell do you know? The only person you’ve ever loved is yourself!”
“That’s right and you know why, my friend? I would rather be Rogue food then to sit in a med ward for three days crying instead of fighting.”
Alessandro is livid now. He knows he has to pull every ounce of strength he has to restrain himself before he goes off on his oldest friend. He takes a few deep breaths through his clenched teeth and turns around to go to his quarters.
Once he is finally in his room and the door is securely shut, he takes a slow ragged breath. Anger is stirring through him. It is a miracle Michael is still alive right now.
He walks deeper into his room and without thinking, he smashes his fist into one of the railings on the bed post, making the canopy fall onto the bed.
That pisses him off even more. He grabs the fallen side and yanks on it as hard as he can. With a loud crack the whole canopy top comes off and he slings it into the wall behind him.
He knows anyone on the above ground layer of the house could hear the destruction, but he doesn’t care, and if they have enough brains they will not enter his quarters tonight.
He drops to his knees and rocks back and forth trying hard to regain control as the once dried up tears begin to form once again.
Within minutes it seems he is fast asleep and approaching a bitter sweet dream.
***
Alessandro opens his eyes and looks around. He is surprised to find himself lying on the ground with hundreds, if not thousands, of the world’s most beautiful flowers all around him.
“How the hell did I get here?” he asks himself.
He is at the Plantation gardens where the Brotherhood and Protectors were first created. The same Plantation he had brought Anna-Marie to in what seems like another lifetime ago.
He stands up and looks around at the heavenly sight. Noticing right away where he is, he walks up to the kingly tombs and kneels in front of them to show his undying love and respect.
He has always felt at peace here at this majestic place. No matter how crazy his life got, he could always come here and all of his worries would disappear, today is no different.
He lifts his head towards the heavens, “Thank you, goddess.”
He is overwhelmed with relief to know his goddess hasn’t abandoned him. She heard his prayers and knew what he needed in this time of despair.
In one instant he is kneeling down in front of the tombs feeling a sense of calm and in the next he is jumping to his feet and spinning around in high alert as he senses an unfamiliar presence.
Pissed off, he growls and searches out the unexpected intrusion, but as he does he comes face to face with the most beautiful creature God ever created.
Alessandro drops to his knees and bends his head, “My goddess, I’m sorry.”
She smiles down at his bent head and puts her hand on his shoulder.
“It’s alright, Alessandro. Please come sit with me.”
She turns and walks towards the bench by the water’s edge, not too far from the tombs.
Without hesitation, he follows his goddess and sits beside her.
“This place is heavenly, is it not?” Ameretat asks.
“Yes, it is. I’ve been all over the world and nowhere else compares to here.”
“That is no surprise. Angels created this heaven on earth.”
Ameretat smiles and turns to face Alessandro.
“Son, you look so sad. How can that be in such a special place?”
Alessandro looks down at his lap and folds his hands together like he does when he talks seriously with his father, “I have lost so much in the past couple of days.”
“I know your despair. I hear your cries.”
With her hand she strokes the side of his cheek then lifts his bent head up to look into his sad eyes. She smiles her knowing smile at her devoted child.
“Son, not all is lost.”
“I know you are right. There’s still so much in the world that I have to do. I really am trying hard to get past this so I can do the job I was born to do.”
“Ahh . . . but you must remember there is a plan for everything. Have faith, my son, everything you ask for is closer than you think. There are mysteries all around. You will receive the answers you seek, but you must stay strong.”
“What do you mean? What am I supposed to look for?”
“That, my son, is for you to find out.”
In a blink of an eye, Ameretat disappears.
Alessandro jumps to his feet and shouts, “But I don’t understand. Please tell me, what I am supposed to look for?”
But all is silent. He is alone again in his favorite place. He sits back down and stares at the water, waiting for his answer.
***
Alessandro opens his eyes to find himself on the floor in his quarters, in the same spot he slumped to after destroying his bed. He blinks his eyes in the dark, trying hard to focus between reality and the dream world. He looks around wondering how long he has been out.
Suddenly, he hears a loud commotion coming from downstairs and jumps up.
“What the hell is going on down there?” he asks himself as he moves the broken canopy out of his way and runs down the stairs.
“Michael was right. The dumb bastards are still there!” he hears James yell.
He picks up his pace to join in the conversation.
Marquis turns and looks his son in the eyes as soon as he turns the corner and smiles, “Tonight we prepare for war.”
16
Anna-Marie opens her eyes to familiar surroundings. Surroundings she has loved most of her life. As she sits up she finds herself encased with dozens of her favorite flowers. She lifts a hand full of sky blue hydrangeas to her nose and deeply inhales the glorious scent. She has smelled nothing but pure filth for God only knows how long. It’s amazing to have the sweet floral aromas burn through her nostrils.
She is at her beloved plantation. It seems like another lifetime ago when she was last here with Alessandro.
She will not allow herself to let the memory of that blessed day get her down. Not here. Here she is happy and carefree. All of her sadness and pain will just have to wait for now.
She falls back down on her back like a child in the snow and she rolls around in the flowers.
After a few minutes she sits up and decides to get up and go walk the grounds. There is always so much to see here.
As she looks around she notices she is close to the main house. It’s crazy to know what really happened to the original house. Hearing the true history makes her look at it with a whole new outlook. The whole plantation does for that matter. It’s bittersweet to know everything she thought she knew about this place has gone out of the window, but then again it lets her meet this majestic place once again with all new possibilities.
“I wonder what it was like,” she says to herself as she studies the massive white country- style house with its huge stately columns and wraparound porch.
“I bet it was just as marvelous.”
She smiles and heads towards the waterfront. It is so peaceful down there and it stretches along side many acres of the gardens.
She passes so many pretty flowers of all colors and sizes. Periodically she stops to smell a few, but she is on a mission so she doesn’t linger for long. She longs to sit before the ancient tombs of the angelic men and one female that started this heaven on earth.
It’s unbelievable to think men created this sanctuary. Not just men, angels from heaven itself who had been cast down and cursed by God to live on earth as monsters for all of eternity.
But these men weren’t monsters. They chose good over evil. They created this place to emulate their home in heaven.
As she comes upon the tombs, her eyes are drawn to the tomb of the lone female, the brave girl who loved her angel. I
t’s so sad that she didn’t get to see her baby grow up and witness what good he and the other Brotherhood did for mankind. She would like to think she’d be very proud.
There’s a slight breeze blowing through the once operational rice fields, which causes a tingly chill to run down her spine. She turns around toward the water and sees her own angel sitting on the bench watching her.
“Alessandro!” she yells and runs to him and pulls him up into a big hug. She pulls back to look at him. “I thought you were dead. What happened? Where were you?”
He doesn’t answer. Instead he strokes her cheek with the back of his huge hand and pulls her in closer for a kiss.
She smiles with anticipation of his soft moist lips that she has longed to touch again.
They kiss slow and passionate, but as the seconds go by it becomes a desperate hunger. Anna-Marie didn’t realize how much she craved his kiss until this moment.
They both pull back at the same time and pant to catch their breath, and then they begin to laugh.
“Oh my goodness, I’m so glad you’re okay,” she says to him, still laughing. “I’ve wanted to tell you something, something that came to me in the darkness. I think I do, too,” Anna-Marie says, beaming up at him. “Alessandro, did you hear me? I said I think I love you, too.”
But he is no longer looking at her and his smile has disappeared. He is looking at something behind her with a serious glare. She is afraid to turn around to look, but her curious mind won’t let her not look.
Slowly she takes a deep breath and turns her head to see what it is, all the while she doesn’t take her eyes off of Alessandro’s face until she has no other choice but to see what is behind her.
Her eyes open wide in shock at the figure leaning against the female’s tomb. Her heart stops in her chest and the blood runs from her face, leaving her feeling cold and numb. Her breath catches in her throat, making it hard to speak or even breathe.
“Dylan?”
***
“Dylan!” she yells, as much as she can anyway, through the dry ache in her throat.
Instantly, her eyes shoot open, but instead of seeing her beloved Dylan or Alessandro, she sees an outline of a figure standing above her, a figure belonging to someone unfamiliar.
Her first thought is, am I still dreaming? But as reality sets in, her eyes grow wider and she begins to hoarsely scream as she struggles against her restraints, to no avail.
Once her energy is spent, she relaxes back down on the bed and awaits whatever torture he may have in mind for her. She no longer cares what happens to her. She’s already dead anyway. She just wants this nightmare to be over.
The figure kneels down beside her and puts a spoon to her lips.
“Eat!” is all he says in a deep rough voice.
Anna-Marie has gone through this procedure a few times before since being held captive here, so she obediently opens her trembling hungry mouth to welcome the much needed nourishment. Every so often, who knows exactly how often, someone brings her some soup, if that’s what you want to call it. She is still tied down, so the man gently lifts her head with his rough hands and spoon feeds her the bland soup. She is shocked by this act of kindness each time, but she still quivers at his touch. The Rogue is supposed to be ruthless killers with no soul, so why is this one always so gentle, assuming it’s the same one each time?
Anna-Marie begins to cry with the second spoon full of slop that she is forced to eat. She is so tired and she feels utterly helpless. She isn’t being fed hardly enough to sustain her strength.
With the third spoonful, her lips are quivering so badly the slop misses her mouth completely and runs down her chin.
The man pulls his hand back as if shocked.
This stuns Anna-Marie.
“Why is he so stunned? I’m the one being treated like an animal,” she thinks to herself.
This angers Anna-Marie, “Oh, I’m sorry if I got some of that foul crap on you. Why don’t you try eating it?”
The man reaches down and wipes the goo from her chin with his hand and licks his fingers.
With a loud growl, he throws the bowl down and storms out of the room without another sound.
“Hey! Where are you going?” Anna-Marie yells at the slamming door. “What was that all about?” she asks herself.
Anna-Marie lies back on the bed waiting for him to come back. Within minutes her stomach starts to cramp and rumble. The soup tastes like flavored water, but it is better than nothing.
“That’ll teach you to keep your mouth shut,” she scolds herself.
Instantly, she hears a loud crash as her door is thrown open and two figures begin pushing their way into the room.
This is it, Anna-Marie thinks to herself. She closes her eyes and tenses as she waits for them to finally end this torture.
But nothing happens.
“What is this shit?” she hears one growl in a low angry voice.
Anna-Marie opens her eyes and sees the form of one of the creatures pinning the other against the wall by his throat and shoves the spilled bowl of soup into his face.
“It’s all we have dammit!” the other one growls back.
“Well then, go get better stuff. How the hell do you expect her to live off this shit?” he says in a loud thunderous voice as he shoves the bowl into his face again.
“I’ll send a group out tonight to get food.”
The dominate Rogue lets go of his neck and the lesser one quickly runs out of the room, glaring at her lying on the bed.
Anna-Marie is so scared and confused she just lays there in utter shock unable to process what is happening.
The remaining Rogue, obviously the dominate one, lifts his slumped head up and turns toward her. Anna-Marie studies the dark figure as much as she can, thanks to the tiny bit of light coming in through the open door. Her eyes are adjusting more to the dark, but there’s nothing she can really tell about him. He is tall and built, that much is easy to see, with messy dark dirty hair that falls in his face, almost covering his eyes completely. The rest of the details are out of focus. She is thoroughly confused. This is the only Rogue she has really had any contact with, other than the one in the cemetery and the other one in the alley, so it’s hard to decide what’s real. Everything she has researched and has been told refers to these creatures as monsters that thrive on killing people ruthlessly. But this one seems almost humane. Dear God, he even just helped her.
The Rogue bends his head back down and turns around to leave the room.
“Hey!” Anna-Marie yells, hoping he’ll actually stop this time.
And he does.
His body grows stiff with rigid tension as he lifts his bent head.
“Thank you,” is all she could think to say.
This makes him turn around again, with what looks like a smile on his face, as he stares down at her.
“You’re welcome,” he says in a rough voice, then he turns back towards the door.
“Hey! What is your name?” Anna-Marie yells desperately.
Surprising her, he stops once again. “They call me Dee,” then shuts the door behind him before she has the chance to say anything else.
“That was strange,” Anna-Marie says to herself.
Anna-Marie has been lying on this tattered old mattress for God only knows how long and every inch of her body aches from it.
She doesn’t know how long she has been held here or why she is even still alive. There are no windows in the room, or any type of light at all for that matter, other than the light filtering around the bedroom door from the hallway. Once she tried to count the seconds and minutes, but the minutes became endless. There was no hope. There is nothing she can do but wait out the never-ending night and pray for a quick death.
Boredom has become a supreme means of torture. It’s enough to make a person lose their mind completely. There is absolutely nothing to do but lay here in this dark, smelly room and sleep or ponder one’s pitiful life, neither of which is very appealing
to Anna-Marie at this moment.
There are far too many things that haunt Anna-Marie’s overactive mind these days between Dylan, and now Alessandro. Both men created wonderful memories for her. Memories a person could cherish for the rest of their life. Of course she had so much more time with Dylan than Alessandro. Even though she had known Dylan all of her life, she has no doubt that Alessandro could have given her many more interesting and fulfilling days. But neither scenario has ended the way it should have. Anna-Marie can’t help but to blame herself for the two men who were cursed for loving her and who ultimately lost their lives because of her.
Dylan lost his life because he loved her so much he had no other choice but to follow her to Wilmington and Alessandro for being her mysterious protector, who came to save her. The torment of both men haunt her every waking and sleeping thoughts.
Letting her depression consume her, she falls back to sleep. She doesn’t dream this time, which is good. Seeing Dylan or Alessandro, and knowing they are both dead, is too much for her to bear. That thought feeds her hatred for the Rogues, even her newfound friend.
Suddenly she opens her eyes wide, as a stinging burning sensation explodes through her arm. Her eyes search wildly for the source of the pain. She is still unable to move, except to lift her head. She sees the form of a man suddenly jump up and back away from her until he is against the wall.
“You’re not human,” he hisses at her. “Your blood is tainted!”
Anna-Marie is too shocked to speak. What do you say to a vampire that just tried to suck your blood?
With a loud crash the door is thrown open and two figures come bursting into the room.
“Ahh . . . you stupid fool! I told you to stay away from her,” one of the Rogues says to the one that has Anna-Marie’s blood on his breath.
He cowers further against the wall, as if at any moment it will open up and allow him to escape.
“Her blood was singing to me. I couldn’t stop myself.”
Protector Page 16